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licia Rice, a San Diego bartender, saves $2,000 a month and has no debt despite living in one of the country's most expensive cities. She earns $70,000 a year and estimates she has saved tens of thousands of dollars over five years as an extreme minimalist.
Rice chronicles her adventures on YouTube channel Exploravore, where she shares her experiences with ultraminimalism. She used to live in Las Vegas, where she spent around $1,000 a month on nonessentials and had at least 1,000 items in her wardrobe. In contrast, she now has only five bills each month: cellphone, car insurance, gas, Dropbox subscription, and sponsoring a child in Uganda.
After a breakup, Rice began a decade-long process of shedding most of her possessions. She became more committed to minimalism after watching the Netflix documentary "The Minimalists." Interest in minimalism has risen sharply over the past 20 years, with web searches for "minimalist design" increasing steadily according to Google Trends.
Rice's minimalist journey took a turn toward the extreme during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was forced to spend time at home with her possessions. She got rid of most of them and now has a Spartan lifestyle that has been a boon for her savings account. She pays off her car loan in two years and is completely debt-free, never owning a credit card.
Rice's monthly expenses include $600 for groceries and treating herself to dinner out once a week. She buys no makeup except lip balm and uses coconut oil soap for her face, body, and hair. Her wardrobe consists of 23 items, including shoes, which is significantly less than the average American woman owns.
Rice's determination to own as little as possible extends to homeownership, with her questioning the idea of paying off a mortgage over 30 years. She can fit everything into her Volkswagen Beetle and take off traveling whenever she feels like it, eventually planning to live out of a backpack in various countries or build an off-grid eco-friendly cabin or tiny house.
Rice emphasizes that living minimally is not about aesthetics but about doing better as a human and being more sustainable for the planet. She has no intention of returning to owning a lot of stuff, finding it normal and natural to live her current way.
